Justices Block Same-Sex Marriage Trial on YouTube

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Justices Block Same-Sex Marriage Trial on YouTube

The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a delayed YouTube broadcast of a federal civil trial in San Francisco concerning the legality of same-sex marriage.

The decision came after gay marriage foes told the court they would be harassed and intimidated if their testimony was disseminated on such a grand scale. The high court's decision, which it is set to review again Wednesday, for the moment suspends a courthouse experiment that for the first time would have uploaded federal courtroom testimony to YouTube.

The justices also blocked the courts from showing a live feed of the trial – which began Monday – at federal courthouses in Seattle, Portland, Pasadena and Brooklyn.

"Permitting real-time streaming is stayed (.pdf) except as it permits streaming to other rooms within the confines of the courthouse in which the trial is to be held," the justices wrote. "Any additional order permitting broadcast of the proceedings is also stayed pending further order of this court."

In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer said he did not believe same-sex marriage foes would be harmed. "In my view, the court's standard for granting a stay is not met," Breyer wrote.

Last year, a live nationwide webcast of a file sharing trial brought by the Recording Industry Association of America was canceled. The RIAA claimed that the webcast would be subject to "editing and manipulation."

Broadcasts of federal trials are generally prohibited nationwide. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which allows broadcasts of its appellate sessions, authorized the courthouse broadcasts Friday. (.pdf) U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who is presiding over the gay marriage case, sanctioned the trial's uploading to YouTube.